Tag Archives: auto repair

Your vehicles steering and suspension typically deteriorates slowly over time and can be unnoticeable until you hear that rattle or clunk. The parts that typically fail include ball joints, tie rods, struts, shocks, springs, control arms and stabilizer links or sway bar links. Ball Joints/Tie Rods: Imagine yourself holding a baseball tightly, but over time your grip loosens and the baseball falls out. This is similar to how a ball joint and tie rod work. Its a ball in socket joint and they wear out causing looseness and sometimes catastrophic failure where the joint comes out of the socket. Your tie rod is the steering rod between your rack and pinion and the ball joint is the pivot point between your axle/control arm and wheel assembly. The easiest way to spot issues with these parts is abnormal tire wear. That would be a lot of tread on one side of the tire and a little tread on the other side. So something as simple as walking to your car and looking at the wear on your tires ... read more

Rain, road grime, dirt and debris are all abrasive to the front end of your vehicle. Most notably on many vehicles, the headlights. Foggy or scratched headlights can cause a dim light at night and that means poor visibility. The good new is fixing this is very simple. Many parts stores sell kits for you to clean the headlamps. 3M and Mothers both make great kits. These kits come with sandpaper, compound and an attachment that you can use on the end of a cordless drill. You can pick up one of these kits for about $20 and get started. When purchasing one of these kits pick up some masking tape as well. To begin you want to pop the hood and use the masking tape to outline the light. Place the tape on the fender and bumper to protect from a runaway drill or unwanted scuffs and scratches. Once you have taped the painted surfaces surrounding the light, you will install the part on the drill and use the heavier grit (400 grit) sand paper to start. Make sure the drill is on the 1 or low speed ... read more

If you are like me you like to have a clean car. Also if you are like me, finding the time to clean it in the driveway might be hard. My solution was a monthly membership to Mike’s Carwash which is a local chain in the midwest. It runs about $50 for unlimited washes each month. I have seen first hand what the salt and grime does to trucks and cars in the midwest. So I wanted to share the tips I use to help keep my truck clean and rust free on the outside and how a couple quick tips can keep your interior in top shape as well. First off you need a couple things. Similar to Clorox wipes, Armor all and Mothers sell their automotive interior wipes in the plastic containers that allow you to grab one at a time. You can find them at many grocery stores as well as Target and others. Next time you are out pick up a pack or 2 to keep in your vehicles. The also sell window wipes in the same type of containers. Most of the packs fit in the glove compartment, center console or even the door ... read more